VACCINES AGAINST BABESIOSIS USING SOLUBLE PARASITE ANTIGENS

Babesiosis in cattle and dogs causes severe economical and emotional l oss. Although effective chemotherapeutic treatment of infected animals is available, the prevention of babesiosis by vaccination would be pr eferable. Attenuated parasite lines of Babesia bovis have been used su ccessfully to control tropical babesiosis in cattle. However, among ot her drawbacks associated with live vaccines, such vaccines bear the ri sk of variable infectivity and morbidity requiring veterinary surveill ance. Soluble parasite antigens derived from different Babesia species have proven to induce immune responses that do not necessarily affect the parasite, per se, but reduce Me manifestations of clinical diseas e upon infection. In this review, Thee Schetters and Sonia Montenegro- James present an overview of the results obtained with vaccines based on soluble parasite antigens and their characterization, and discuss t he possible immune effector mechanisms of such vaccines.